52 percent of local schools meet No Child Left Behind AYP goals

Samieh Shalash, sshalash@dailypress.com | 247-4537

Schools statewide slipped in meeting federal No Child Left Behind Act achievement goals, with 40 percent not making adequate yearly progress, or AYP, this year. Results, based on pass rates on state tests, were released Thursday by the Virginia Department of Education.

Locally, 67 of 129 schools met the targets but no local school division made AYP as a whole. Both Surry and Mathews County met AYP goals at all of their schools, but the divisions themselves did not meet AYP targets. Only 12 of 132 school divisions in the state made AYP, 48 fewer than last year.

Some schools that met all pass rates still didn't make AYP because of a new AYP graduation rate that requires 80 percent of students in a district to graduate within four years. According to the VDOE, 41 high schools and nine school division missed AYP solely because of the graduation benchmark.

Pass rate targets were 79.1 percent in math and 81.1 percent in English. Last year, schools had to meet 79 or 81 percent in those categories.

Statewide, 1,104 of 1,836 schools met AYP on state math and English tests, 217 fewer than last year. Results were based on how students performed in 2009-2010.

Also different this year, states were not allowed to add 2 percentage points to the test scores of students with disabilities. The U.S. Department of Education had allowed that practice since 2005 in recognition of limited testing options for some of those students.

"The aggressive objective for graduation set by the Board of Education and the change in federal special education policy were factors as the number of schools and divisions making AYP declined – even though overall achievement was steady in reading and up in mathematics," said Superintendent of Public Instruction Patricia Wright in a statement.

Two schools in Hampton and six in Newport News barely missed making AYP by missing the required pass rate by a tenth of a percent or less.

The annual achievement goals are required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which provides funds and support for low income and academically at-risk students. The AYP benchmarks increase each year until 2014 when all students are expected to pass the tests.

Schools and districts must report AYP results for all students as well as subgroups. Schools that fail to meet the targets two or more years in a row are subject to sanctions that range from offering students transfers to better performing schools to reorganizing or closing schools.

Here's how the local school districts fared with the achievement goals:

Newport News

Twenty-four of 38 Newport News schools failed to meet AYP goals this year. Among the Newport News schools that did not meet standards were 14 elementary schools, five middle schools and four high schools.

Last year, four elementary schools, six middle schools and two high schools missed the pass rate targets.

As a division, Newport News Public Schools did not make AYP in reading for subgroups of students, including black, low income, English language learners, and students with disabilities, according to a statement from school officials. The district also did not meet the graduation rate target.

Seven schools missed AYP targets because a single subgroup missed a target.

Eight of Hampton's 30 schools hit achievement targets this year, down from 19 of 34 last year. None of the five middle schools or four high schools met the goals.

The number of schools making AYP in Hampton has steadily declined, with 22 in 2008, 19 in 2009 and eight this year. Test results were reported for four fewer schools this year, since Mallory, Lee and Wythe elementary and Spratley Middle are not re-opening this fall.

The eight schools that met goals this year were Armstrong, Barron, Booker, Tarrant, Asbury, Burbank, Phillips and Tucker-Capps elementary schools. Eleven schools that made AYP targets last year fell short this time, including all four high schools and Forrest, Smith, Kraft, Bryan, Tyler, Machen and Merrimack elementary schools.

Four schools missed AYP by one of 29 categories, and seven schools missed it by two categories, according to a district spokeswoman. Categories include subgroups of students, including black, special education and low-income students.

Two schools missed the targets by less than a third of a percent: Jones Middle, with 80.85 percent of black students passing the reading test; and Machen Elementary, with 80.64 percent of all students passed the reading test.

Syms and Lindsay middle schools did not make AYP for the third year in a row, and Jones and Eaton Middle schools missed targets for the second year in a row. The schools must take corrective action or develop or revise a school-improvement plans.Corrective actions range from from letting students transfer to better-performing schools or reorganizing or closing schools.

Williamsburg- James City County

Williamsburg-James City County Schools failed to meet student achievement goals during the 2009-10 school year. The 10,200-student district did not AYP this year even though 12 of its 14 schools met the required achievement goals.

However, the number of W-JCC schools meeting AYP targets increased over last year, when only 11 schools met the performance goals. Schools and districts must report AYP results for all students in a grade, school and district as well as subgroups of students.

D.J. Montague Elementary — which met its achievement goals in 2009 after running the risk of sanctions — slipped this year and did not make AYP. Lafayette High School also did not meet achievement goals in 2010 after hitting testing targets the year before.

However, schools such as James Blair Middle School had a reason to celebrate. The school— which closed at the end of the 2009-10 school year— met AYP standards after failing to meet them in 2009. Berkeley Middle School, which also didn't meet AYP in 2009, met the federal achievement goals this year.

York County and Poquoson

Thirteen of 19 schools in the York County School Division met AYP goals this year, but the district as a whole did not make AYP. None of York's four middle schools met achievement goals, along with Magruder and Yorktown elementary schools.

Last year only the four middle schools missed the targets.

The division did not make AYP for reading within the sub-groups of disadvantaged, limited English proficient and students with disabilities.

Magruder and Yorktown elementary schools did not make AYP in reading for disadvantaged students.

The middle schools missed AYP in reading for the following sub-groups: Queens Lake (black students and disadvantaged), Tabb (students with disabilities) and Yorktown (disadvantaged and students with disabilities). Grafton Middle did not make AYP because of math testing scores among disadvantaged students.

Among steps that are in the works to improve reading test scores are a new reading model, how reading specialists are scheduled at middle schools and the implementation of additional reading interventions, Guy said.

In Poquoson, three of the four schools did not make AYP with Poquoson High School the only one that did. As a division, the district missed three of its 29 targets –reading and math for disabled students, and math for disadvantaged students, according to a statement from school officials.

Poquoson Elementary School missed four targets, and Poquoson Middle School two. The primary school did not make AYP because its status is determined by the elementary school.

Gloucester and Mathews Counties

Gloucester High School was the only one of the county's nine schools that didn't meet federally required math and reading achievement targets, though two schools that missed the mark last year met the standards.

Both Peasley Middle School and Bethel Elementary met the standards after failing to meet the targets last year. Peasley Middle School had missed the mark the previous two years.

In Mathews, all three schools — Lee-Jackson Elementary, Thomas Hunter Middle School and Mathews High School — met the math and reading achievement targets. Particularly notable was the performance of students at Thomas Hunter, where the school had missed the targets the previous three years. The other two schools had met the target.

Niether of the school systems met the division-wide AYP standard.

Isle of Wight and Surry Counties

Three Isle of Wight County schools that met AYP goals in 2009 failed to meet their targets this year.

Smithfield Middle, Westside Elementary and Windsor High schools missed their AYP benchmarks, according to the Virginia Department of Education. Smithfield High School also failed to meet its federal benchmark for the second year in a row.

Smithfield Middle missed the math pass rate by 1 percent in the black students subgroup, according to the state education department.

All three of Surry County's schools met AYP targets, according to state education department.

As a district, neither Isle of Wight nor Surry County public schools met their AYP standards. In 2009, both districts met their AYP standards.

The federal No Child Left Behind law (NCLB) requires states to set annual objectives for increasing student achievement to ensure that all children have an opportunity to obtain a high-quality education. Schools, school divisions and states that meet these objectives make what federal law refers to as "Adequate Yearly Progress."

COMPLETE RESULTS

The AYP status of all Virginia schools and school districts is available on the Virginia Department of Education Web site, http://www.doe.virigina.gov. Click the "VA School Report Card" link in the right column of the home page.